Hugh Jackman Movie:

		List Price: $14.99		Label: Dreamworks Animated Salesrank: 4649 Released: February 20, 2007
		Our Price: $8.77
		Used Price: $2.45
		MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
Set on and beneath the streets of London, Flushed Away is the story of Roddy, an upper-crust "society mouse," who is rather rudely evicted from his Kensington flat when he is flushed down into Ratropolis, the bustling sewer world found under London’s streets. There, he meets Rita, an enterprising scavenger who works the sewers in her faithful boat, the Jammy Dodger. Together they must navigate their way through a busy city filled with dangers for any mouse, including terrifying rapids, treacherous whirlpools and, most of all, the villainous Toad and his hench-rats Spike and Whitey. Though completely out of his element at first, the privileged Roddy finds himself an unlikely hero when he learns that Ratropolis is in danger from the world above.

Description of Flushed Away (Widescreen Edition):
Flushed Away is a rip-roaring nautical adventure with a twist: The heroes are a pair of rodents braving the sewers underneath London. Roddy (voiced by Hugh Jackman) is an upper-crust house-mouse who finds himself flushed into the subterranean sewers. Eager to return to his posh home, he enlists the help of a boat-captain rat named Rita (Kate Winslet), who has troubles of her own; namely the kingpin of the underworld, the Toad (Ian McKellen), and his henchmen including the French mercenary Le Frog (Jean Reno).

While technically Flushed Away could be considered part of the wave of celebrity-voiced, anthropomorphic-animal movies that hit in 2005-2006 (Madagascar, Over the Hedge, The Wild, etc.), it doesn't inspire the same sense of déjà vu. For one thing, its voice actors are less recognizable than the likes of Bruce Willis and Chris Rock. For another, its look is very distinctive. Like Nick Park's Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, it's a joint production of DreamWorks Animation and Aardman Features, and although Park isn't involved, it retains his trademark blocky look of clay animation. But animating the movie by computer rather than by hand allows for some eye-popping tableaux, such as floodwaters rushing through the sewers and an entire town of little animated characters. It's a crazy thrill ride loaded with inside jokes and enough crude humor to earn a PG rating, and the band of singing slugs is also a hoot. --David Horiuchi

On the DVD
It's no surprise that the singing slugs are the stars of the DVD's bonus features. They're featured in two music videos (less than a minute total), and in a 13-minute segment an Aardman animator builds a slug out of plasticine. (In contrast, the lesson on drawing Roddy is a mere two minutes.) A song jukebox jumps to 10 musical points in the film, though the non-slug background music isn't really worth the jump. On the human side, there are eight-minute featurettes on the music and the voices, a set-top game that is easier to control than most such featurettes (and easier to beat too), and a commentary track by directors David Bowers and Sam Fell in which they have a grand old time remembering their inside jokes and showering love on the Spike and Whitey characters. The DVD-ROM has access to 21 more online games. --David Horiuchi

• In Tabitha's room, there are a variety of dolls from previous DreamWorks Animation films, including a Gromit and several bunnies from Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, an Alex the Lion from Madagascar, and a Dragon from Shrek.
• Many characters from past films make cameos in Flushed Away. For example, a Chicken Run chicken is on the second page of the Toad’s scrapbook, Gromit’s head is a pencil top in the Jammy Dodger, the penguin from Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers is on a stamp on the Jammy Dodger, and a poster of Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is on the side of a bus in Kensington.
• There are officially 60 million rats in the UK. That’s one rat for every person.
• The various boats in the film are made up of flotsam and jetsam that rats could conceivably find in the sewer. For the double decker bus: Ice chest, retro flipping numbers alarm clock, bike lamp, buckle, oil drum, soup can, license plate, rope, plastic suitcase, jerry can. For the mini cooper: Soda can, battery, sardine can, butter knife, old lights.
• Simulating the toilet water and making it look realistic proved to be a challenge. After much consideration, it was finally discovered that what was missing was caustics, or the use of light reflection off the bottom of the bowl. This was added and everyone was happy because they could finally get their mind out of the toilet.

Flushed Away (Widescreen Edition) Reviews:
Entertaining But Needs Nick Park's Creative Genius
2009-10-04 - "Flushed Away" is a CG animation produced by DreamWorks and Aardman, companies that brought us wildly imaginative and hugely entertaining "Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit." Their new collaboration "Flushed Away" is as an enjoyable ride as the Oscar-winning predecessor, but the creativity and imagination of Wallace and Gromit are somehow missing.

Roddy (voiced by Hugh Jackman) is a pet mouse living in a posh house in Kensington. His affluent life is suddenly over, however, when he is literally "flushed away" by an intruder, a sewer mouse named Sid (Shane Richie). Through the pipes Roddy goes deep down into the underworld, where he encounters a feisty, street-smart female mouse Rita (Kate Winslet), who is being chased by the scheming kingpin "The Toad" (Ian McKellen).

"Flushed Away" suffers from underdeveloped characters and weak storyline. Of all the animation characters I have ever seen, Roddy is probably the least interesting hero. All Roddy wants to do is going up above, back to his old house, and it is not a very difficult thing to do (Sid already did that). Hugh Jackman does his best, but voice acting is not his forte, and many of his scenes are stolen by The Toad's ridiculously incompetent henchmen Whitey and Spike (Bill Nighy and Andy Sarkis) and the singing slugs.

According to IMDb, as many as five credited screenplay writers (and another six writers who did additional screenplay material) were attached to the project. But you will notice there is someone who should be here. For all funny slapstick jokes, pop culture references ("Finding Nemo" "Batman" etc.) and visual detail of the London underworld, "Flushed Away" is a little disappointing, lacking Nick Park's creative genius.

NICE MOVIE
2009-10-02 - This movie is just interesting enough to hold my attention. Nice story and animation. Cute movie, good for all ages (if you like this kind of movie, which I do).

Great movie for kids with an imaginative twist!
2009-09-28 - Bought this for a 5 yr old and 2 yr old. They love it. It has also been a great way to explain what happens when the toilet flushes. Two inquisitive fun loving kids love this movie!

GREAT FUN!
2009-09-22 - This is a great movie. We are PIXAR fanatics so this is not quite up to par with any PIXAR movies; however, it is still a very good movie. Our four (4) year old girl likes it a lot.

Another Dreamworks Hit!
2009-09-13 - What a fun and whimsical movie with the usual Dreamworks state of the art animation. The computer generated animation gives the characters a semi-claylike look - but not too much.

This is a funny film with rats and mice in the city of London. Roddy St. James (Hugh Jackman) is a pet mouse who lives in a cage shaped like a castle or a fine house. He has everything he needs and plenty of toys to play with. He comes across as a "James Bond" wannabe mouse. English accent and fine clothes to appeal to his Barbie Doll pretend friends.

A fat rat of the streets, named Sid (Shane Richie) pops up out of the sink one day when Roddy's owner's have left him alone. They are out of the house as Roddy hops in his play car with two of his Barbie Doll "Friends". Sid is gross and demanding. He wants the same life as Roddy. Roddy does not want Sid around, disrupting his fine times and good food. He thinks he can trick Sid into jumping into the toilet - tells him it is a "Spa" with a "whirlpool". Sid knows it is a toilet and Roddy ends up being flushed away down to subterranean Metropolis - similar to London but for smaller animals and frogs, snails, etc...

Rita (Kate Winslet), a smart, cute young attractive female rat meets Roddy. Roddy and Rita team up after some mishaps, and changes in plans. There is a villainous Toad (Sir Ian McKellen) and singing snails (delightful songs interspersed throughout). The toad hates rodents and has sent two goofy hench rats, Spike (Andy Serkis) and Whitey (Bill Nighy), and his cousin -- Le Frog (Jean Reno) - to see that Roddy and Rita are frozen alive with his other victims. Liquid Nitrogen is used to do this.

Rita and Roddy are smart and brave and together escape and are chased through several exciting scenes. The movie is engaging and fun - and as usual the animation is fabulous!